Ra.One

They call him King Khan for a reason, for he is the Badshah of Bollywood whenever he has a new movie release. Ra.One is the most awaited film after My Name Is Khan, apart from Don 2, of course. After being labelled as candy floss lover boy, King Khan has moved on and tried his hands on different roles, proving his critics wrong again and again.

Ra.One brings what would be known as Bollywood sci-fi masala in the future. You have all the elements in one, comedy, emotions, song and dance routine, and action with a bad-ass villain. Shekhar, played by SRK, tries hard to impress his son despite his clumsy self. Upon his son's request he invents a game with a super villain that is almost unbeatable. Things go wrong on the day of the game launch and they find themselves in a challenge with Ra.One, the bad-ass villain. And that is when the real hero, G.One comes to their rescue.

SRK acted adorably as Shekhar, the Tamilian who even eats noodles with curd. Kareena was just ok, not much required of her in the film, except to shine in the Chamak Challo song. Armaan Verma as Shekhar's son did a great job, and his chemistry with G.One is amazing. Arjun's avatar as Ra.One was good, but one wishes to see more of him.

The effects are so good that comparisons with Endhiran is inevitable. In fact, we even see a special appearance of Chitti in a comedic scene. That being said, the effects in Ra.One is a tiny notch better than Endhiran, especially the train sequence that ends with the Mumbai train station being partially destroyed, truly breath-taking!

The downside of the movie is the pace could have been done more intense considering the action nature, but I suppose in order to fulfill the masala genre, the spoof-like comedy scenes were serving that purpose. The first 15 minutes were totally hilarious with the dream sequence.

The moral of the story is to be a superhero with a HART, and don't smoke!

On the whole, Ra.One is the movie to watch this year, and due to the fact Don 2 is yet to be released, this statement is subject to change. Don't hate me, SRK is the King after all.

Sanju Got Spiked

In all the Diwali festive excitement and busy-ness, Sanju had all freedom going out, eating (or rather refusing to eat) and being his naughty self as I have been busy in preparing for the celebration. The lucky chap hardly ate, played, and broke things the whole day. Also going out for last minute shopping was his main agenda with my in laws.

On Diwali eve afternoon, I found him to be unusually quiet. Once I carried him over to make him nap, I realised his body was rather warm than usual, read abt 37.5 Celcius on the thermometer. When the cooling patch did not bring the temperature down, we rushed him to clinic. It was our aim to make sure he is all well before Diwali.

Doctor diagnosed low fever due to throat infection, and prescribed antibiotics apart from the paracetamol. It was a huge relief that it was nothing serious. However as Sanju is not even 2 years old, I was very skeptical in giving him antibiotics and preferred him to recover on his own.

I have been an ardent follower of the Natural Parenting and Living Loft group in Facebook, there are a huge number of ideas and tips on natural living which I have been trying on myself and kids. I had bought the virgin olive oil (VCO) months back, and been using it externally for skin issues. Admin of the group and a fellow blogger and CD mama, Hanz has shared some of the VCO benefits on her blog.

I decided to try the VCO on Sanju for the throat infection and the fever. I did give him paracetamol to control the fever. At the same time I wanted to give him VCO for the throat and supplement for his health. As usual, it is a huge chore feeding him medicine, even for the paracetamol doses he ended up throwing it all out 2 times, but as my mom would say, it is good to vomit because the fever comes out, whatever for the best.

For the VCO supplements, I sneakily spiked his food with a tablespoon of VCO each meal, something that I learnt from other mothers from Natural Parenting FB group. 2 days later, fever is gone, and the throat infection is gone too. I am officially a convert of natural medication. Will update more of my success stories later, and who knows, you could be a convert too! Till then, Happy Diwali!

Where Did The Year Go?

As I stand beside the baby cot, Jeev sleeping peacefully in it, while Sanju is sleeping peacefully on this mattress on the floor, I see a reflection of Sanju's baby face, look, expression and days in the baby cot. I ask myself, where did the days, months and one whole YEAR go to?

Before I go into deep deep thought looking for the passed days, I remind myself this is the most peaceful time of my day, when both brothers nap together peacefully with full tummies while granting me some peaceful time on my own. I get to do essential things like surfing, facebook-ing, plucking my eyebrows and even cutting my nails. You boys are the best, do keep it up!

So, where did the year go to? While in their babyhood, we are so tired and stressed with weird sleeping patterns and fussy evenings and even nights. The first couple of months, baby refuses to sleep on time, rather, sometimes refuses to sleep at all. How did the saying 'sleep like a baby' come into effect any way? That is like the biggest conspiracy ever!

Before I even started going to office after maternity leave, it was the constant worry, will I ever find a trustworthy babysitter? If yes, how would I manage it? And then the teething day (or rather nights), those weird come and go fever, and crying through the night making sure that us parents go to work looking like a zombie. Then we have sick nights, which makes us parents go all cranky and think weird like rushing baby to the emergency room of Pantai Klang for a blocked nose only to be told only the doctor on duty can have a look, unless we call for the paediatrician. We ended up going back home like a pregnant woman with a bout of false alarm. Then before we realise it, comes solid feeding, and yeah going all over to research the best ever first solid and subsequent best solids and the subsequent best of it and so on. Everything has to be the best in the world. Oh yes, I see hubby nodding to all of these.

Thinking back, that is how the year has gone by. We were so caught up bringing up our baby that he grew up and we suddenly feel it was too fast. With baby no. 2, we are enjoying (ok, maybe not 100% of the times) reliving those moments and experiences. Instead of panicking, this time we sit and give ourselves a break, remind each other that this will pass, or that he will finally have a proper bedtime. And this time, we will give ourselves a pat on our back for the job well done, or done better. This is a special one for hubby dear!

Self Feeding for Sanju

Ever since we got back to our place after my maternity leave, life has not been the same. There is one attention demanding toddler, and one boob demanding newborn. Juggling both of them while ensuring the house is clean and the toddler gets fed nice meals and snacks daily are just some of the highlights of my 'new' life. Cooking, laundry and baby hygiene are another.

While at my parents and in laws, Sanju had picked a rather good habit of sitting with the adult for meals. Previously I had let him use his hands to pick fruits and biscuits for self feeding. Now he had even started using fork and spoon, thanks to our folks.

Let me first confess that the highchair we got for Sanju has been collecting dust, except for the rare occasions where we make him sit for 5 seconds and he cries to get out of it. It was now time to get Sanju on the highchair and self feed him once and for all. Being the clean freak I am (oh yes, I am monster at that), I have always dreaded the mess the toddler might create if given a chance to self feed. Few friends suggested I put newspapers below the chair to capture the waste and make cleaning easier.

My strategy was to allow Sanju to explore the food on his own, while I feed him the real food. So with Sanju on the highchair, I gave him a bowl and spoon. He was hooked, trying to pick, play and bang the spoon. At times, he even feeds himself with impressive accuracy. The first time I had newspapers layered on the floor. But during subsequent feeds, I allowed the food to drop on the floor, because cleaning it somehow turned therapeutic (guess another traits of being a clean freak).

Feeding is much easier now with Sanju doing half the work and staying put during meal times. In the past he would totally climb over his father during meal times but now he is happy with his bowl on the highchair. Hubby is pleased, the recent trip for bak kut teh is evident to that, too bad I did not capture the moment. However, I did capture the sweet moment Sanju picking up food with his hand to eat when the spoon did not seem to work.

Sanju And The Newborn

Ever since Jeev (Sanju V2.0) was born, I am often asked 'How is Sanju taking it?'.

On the day I got admitted, that night was the first night Sanju slept without me beside him, but his father was there for a nice lullaby session than his mom who can't sing for nuts (his father can't sing either, in fact enjoys singing out of tune most). By next morning, Jeev was born, and overnight Sanju grew up from being a baby, toddler, into a kid, at least in my eyes.

Once Jeev got home, I was busy having him latch most of the time. Thankfully, hubby was around for a week to help out, and keep Sanju accompanied. In fact, Sanju does not recognise any of his lovely grandma, grandpa, uncles and aunties as long as his father is around.

The real challenge began once hubby left back to Klang Valley. I tried to manage my time with both of them, but with a newborn, he wants to be constantly latching, and during this time I can see the pissed off look in Sanju's eyes.

Sanju and Jeev were made to sleep in different rooms because I did not want either one's crying to affect the other. Every night after settling Jeev down (as a newborn he did not sleep on time, so I got my mom or sister to babysit him ) I spend time with Sanju and make him sleep. After that my dad would sleep with Sanju through the night. Next morning, again after settling the non-sleeping Jeev I would go lie down beside Sanju so that he would wake up with my presence. I did not want him to feel left out, plus I wanted to be with him like how we used to back at our place.

Sanju's reaction to newborn Jeev was pretty normal in the beginning, he would smile and be excited with the newborn in the room. He acknowledged the presence of a new baby, always eager to touch him, which we were very careful about. However, at one occasion, he wailed out loudly when he saw hubby carrying Jeev, he even left the room!

Now after 2 months, things are better. Sanju loves to kiss his baby brother at any time possible, he even asks to hold him, we let him hold Jeev and 'sayang' (while us doing the real holding of course). Sanju even helps in handing me towel and hanky for his baby brother. And now that Sanju is even self-feeding, he sometimes wants to help by feeding Jeev.

As for the sleeping part, hubby and I co-sleep with the 2 kids in the same room, neither of their cries interrupts the other's sleep, it is amazing how the 2 brothers have started tolerating each other now itself.

Thinking back, I can laugh about it now, but the first 1 month of being a mother of two, it was really tough for me, I even wondered if I would ever pull through. The saying is really true, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going!

How is really Sanju taking it? Only Sanju knows, while Sanju's mother misses Sanju's baby days and wishes to re-live it with Jeev, while watch Sanju grow up smarter and more handsome by the day.

Here's some brotherly love for you: